The 1,000mph Bloodhound Supersonic Car

The 1,000mph Bloodhound Supersonic Car

The Bloodhound Supersonic car has been designed to reach a speed of 1,000mph and its British makers hope it will break the world land speed record in 2019.

The Bloodhound will attempt to obliterate the current land speed record of 763mph by attaining a speed of over 1,000mph on a specially prepared track in South Africa. That’s fast enough to overtake a bullet fired from a Magnum .357.

It’s a true engineering marvel combining fighter jet and space craft technology and every detail from the wheels to the steering needs to be stress tested and finely tuned to withstand the supersonic speeds the car will attempt to reach in 2019.

The cars engines pull an incredible 35,000 horsepower and are louder than a Boeing 747 at take off. This extraordinary power allows the car to cover a mile in an astounding 3.6 seconds!

Innovation company Cambridge Design Partnership has been intrinsically involved in this record breaking journey from the start by contributing a functional, robust, and ergonomic design for the steering wheel which Wing Commander Andy Green will tightly grip as he drives the car across the desert and into the record books.

This is no ordinary steering wheel: it fires the main rockets, launches the back up break chutes, main break chute, the air brakes, and controls the radio and abort mission commands. It also needs to allow pilot Andy Green to keep the vehicle travelling in a straight line over the 12 mile stretch; pointing the car just one degree in the wrong direction for the run would mean the crew at the finish are standing almost 350m away from the car as it comes to a halt.

Cambridge Filmworks have travelled to Bloodhound HQ in Bristol to meet with the pilot Wing Commander Andy Green and learn more about this record breaking technology.